Coventry Health Care's adjusted earnings rose 73 percent last year even as sales slipped 17 percent. The profit margin, which in 2009 was the lowest since 1997, more than doubled. Shares of the health insurer advanced 1 percent since the company boosted its revenue estimate for the year on April 29.
"We are downshifting to a more normal mid-cyclical environment," said Kleintop. "That's a good thing, it sustains the recovery. Even as profit margins might be stable or even falling, stocks will do reasonably well because people believe the growth is going to continue, even if at a slower pace."